GONE UNTIL NOVEMBER -- Vulnerable senators up for reelection this year are free to campaign through Election Day after Democrats agreed to confirm 15 federal judges Thursday. “The calculation by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and his caucus was simple: That Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) would be able to confirm roughly 15 judges if he kept the Senate in session for the next few weeks anyway,” Burgess reports. “So Democrats OK’d an offer to confirm three Circuit Court judges and 12 District Court judges as the price to pay to go home for election season.”

Story Continued Below

The difference between confirming the judges Thursday and putting up a fight, forcing the chamber to burn 30 hours of debate for each nominee, is three weeks of campaigning. Had Democrats chosen the latter option, McConnell would have still gotten the judges confirmed by Nov. 1. Still, Senate Democrats are facing criticism from liberals over the deal. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) was the only Democrat who opposed the deal, but no one objected to it as McConnell read it on the Senate floor. “Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (D-N.D.) ... missed Thursday’s Senate session anyway, and there likely would have been more defections next week if the Senate hadn’t taken the deal,” Burgess adds.

The big picture: “McConnell and President Donald Trump ... now have confirmed 84 judges over the past two years, including two Supreme Court nominees,” Burgess notes. More: https://politi.co/2NzLYly

Related: “McConnell Warns Of 'Scary Prospect' If GOP Loses Senate Control In Midterms,” by NPR’s Kelsey Snell: https://n.pr/2RKr5aA; and “California senators will try to block White House judicial nominees for the 9th Circuit,” from the Los Angeles Times’ Sarah D. Wire: https://lat.ms/2PuahmN

COMING SOON: BORDER WALL FIGHT -- House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) knows a “big fight” over border wall funding is coming soon. And Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) will pursue the $5 billion in funding the president wants. But the plan for making that happen doesn’t appear to exist just yet. “[A]fter spending months persuading Trump to put off his border wall fight until after the election, GOP leaders now face the possibility of emerging empty-handed from the fight they postponed,” The Washington Post’s Erica Werner and Josh Dawsey write. “They don’t have enough votes in the Senate to push through a big wall-funding increase, and the midterm elections could weaken their position even further.”

Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) said he’s unaware of any plan to get the president money for his wall. “And I think I’d know,” Shelby said. “That leaves a partial government shutdown as a real possibility, because no one on Capitol Hill or at the White House has come up with a viable strategy to increase border wall funding to the levels Trump wants,” they add. “Shelby and others anticipate the White House could send up an emergency spending request to deal with the most recent hurricanes, and that could become another vehicle to add wall money by year’s end.” More: https://washex.am/2Prp55C

SCRAPPING SAUDI ARMS SALES -- Senators are poised to force a vote on blocking U.S. arms sales to Saudi Arabia amid mounting frustration over Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi’s disappearance. Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) plans to introduce a resolution of disapproval once Congress is notified of the next potential weapons sale to Saudi Arabia. Murphy and Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) were four votes shy of blocking a Saudi weapons deal last year. Murphy, however, believes they’ll have better luck next time. “I don’t think that a military sale could pass the Senate today,” Murphy said. “I don’t think that it could pass the House.”

“Trump said Thursday that he’s not interested in stopping arms sales to Saudi Arabia, $110 billion of which he rolled out during a trip to the kingdom last year,” Elana writes. “However, any move that senators can make against Saudi arms deals couldn’t begin until Congress is formally notified of the next sale, which Murphy said he expects within the next 30 to 60 days. And that clock won’t start until an informal hold by the Foreign Relations Committee’s top Democrat, New Jersey Sen. Robert Menendez, is relinquished.” More: https://politi.co/2C9Cpb0

Related read: “Turks tell U.S. officials they have audio and video recordings that support conclusion Khashoggi was killed,” per The Washington Post’s Shane Harris, Souad Mekhennet, John Hudson and Anne Gearan: https://wapo.st/2ydbxnK

HAPPY FRIDAY! Thanks for reading Huddle, the play-by-play guide to all things Capitol Hill, on this Oct. 12.

THURSDAY’S MOST CLICKED: The San Francisco Chronicle’s report on House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) saying pursuing the president’s tax returns is “one of the first things we’d do” in a Democratic majority was the winner.

President Trump says a red wave is coming on Election Day. Is he right, or will the tide turn blue? Compete against the nation’s top political minds in the POLITICO Playbook Election Challenge by correctly picking the winning candidates in some of the most competitive House, Senate and gubernatorial races in the country. Win awesome prizes and eternal bragging rights. Sign up today!

POLITICO is partnering with the Milken Institute to bring a special edition of the POLITICO Pulse newsletter to the Milken Institute Future of Health Summit. Written by Dan Diamond, the newsletter will take readers inside one of the most influential gatherings of global health industry leaders and innovators as they tackle today’s most pressing health challenges. The newsletter will run from Oct. 23-24. Sign up today to begin receiving exclusive coverage on Day One of the summit.

GOP ABANDONS VULNERABLE INCUMBENTS -- GOP leaders are trying to build a wall around Republicans in moderate suburban areas, hoping to protect enough candidates from a blue wave to preserve their majority in the House. “Republican Party leaders are racing to reinforce their candidates in about two-dozen districts, trying to create a barricade around their imperiled majority,” The New York Times’ Alexander Burns writes. “They are pouring money and effort mainly into moderate suburban areas … that they see as critical to holding the chamber by even a one-seat margin. And they have begun to pull millions of dollars away from Republican candidates who have fallen substantially behind in once-competitive races.”

GOP groups have already pulled some or all funding from vulnerable Reps. Kevin Yoder (R-Kan.), Mike Coffman (R-Colo.) and Mike Bishop (R-Mich.) and abandoned more than a half-dozen seats where no Republican incumbent is seeking reelection. Other lawmakers, including Reps. Peter Roskam (R-Ill.) and Mimi Walters (R-Calif.), are at risk of losing funding, too. “Republicans steering the House effort … believe that by intensifying their efforts in a smaller number of districts, they can limit Democratic gains to perhaps 20 seats on Nov. 6 -- just short of the 23 seats Democrats need to take over the House,” Burns notes. More: https://nyti.ms/2QGAHSq

Related: “Republicans warn ‘green wave’ of Democratic cash could overwhelm House GOP candidates,” by The Washington Post’s Paul Kane: https://wapo.st/2PyDey1; “One Of The Biggest Democratic Donors Is Putting Another $4 Million Into Young Voter Turnout,” from HuffPost’s Kevin Robillard: http://bit.ly/2QMteRD; and “Adelsons Give at Least $25 Million More to G.O.P. for Midterms,” via The New York Times’ Jeremy W. Peters: https://nyti.ms/2yBCb8S

PELOSI, CLINTON STAR IN GOP ADS -- Hillary Clinton isn’t even on the ballot, but she and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) are the stars of GOP attack ads. “Republican campaigns or affiliated groups sank $28.4 million into the Clinton and Pelosi messaging over the last month,” Natasha Korecki reports. Over the past 30 days, nearly 100 GOP-funded TV ads casting Clinton and/or Pelosi as villains have run more than 34,000 times. “It’s all about energizing the Republican base,” said Ana Navarro, a Republican strategist. “If you are a Republican -- man, woman, child or house plant -- you are genetically predisposed to detest Nancy Pelosi, and Hillary is not far behind.” Much more: https://politi.co/2Eple7M

DEMS COUNTER GOP ECONOMIC MESSAGE -- Democrats are challenging Republicans on their strongest issue: the economy. “Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (Calif.) and her fellow Democrats are rolling out a series of state-specific reports that show low- and middle-class workers have been left behind while the wealthiest Americans have benefited handsomely from the Republicans’ economic agenda,” The Hill’s Mike Lillis reports. “The late messaging campaign provides a counterpunch to the GOP’s principal pitch … that their economic formula has lifted all ships across the income spectrum.” More: http://bit.ly/2Cfdpii

WASHINGTON DEMS EYE DCCC CHAIR -- The next chair of the DCCC could come from the Washington delegation. “Reps. Denny Heck and Suzan DelBene have expressed interest to colleagues and party leadership about running for the chair position, which, depending on the party’s midterm showing, could entail protecting the majority and its swath of moderate freshmen in red-leaning districts,” National Journal’s Ally Mutnick reports. Rep. Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.), the current chairman, is not expected to seek a third term.

“Heck’s two terms chairing the DCCC’s recruitment efforts give him an advantage, having drafted or mentored many of the candidates that are well-positioned to win next month,” Mutnick writes. “Heck also cochairs Red to Blue, the DCCC program that provides additional assistance to the most-promising campaigns.” DelBene, meanwhile, has brought in $3.3 million for the committee this cycle as its finance co-chair. According to a spokesman, DelBene has been encouraged by members to pursue the post and will make a decision after the midterms. If successful, she would be the first woman to chair the DCCC since Rep. Nita Lowey (D-N.Y.) during the 2002 cycle. More: http://bit.ly/2pQDNIc

VOLUNTEERS DITCH BREDESEN -- Volunteers for Democrat Phil Bredesen’s Tennessee Senate campaign have canceled door-knocking and phone-banking shifts over his support for Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh. “It’s a small fraction of Bredesen’s total volunteer force, which numbers in the thousands, according to his campaign,” James Arkin and Burgess write. “But it’s also just one slice of the frustration roiling Democrats since Kavanaugh was confirmed to the Supreme Court last weekend.” Three consecutive public polls have Bredesen trailing Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), though private polling shows a closer contest. If Bredesen loses, however, that would likely signal that Senate Republicans will keep their majority. More: https://politi.co/2RPYh0u

POSSIBLE SESSIONS SUCCESSORS -- Assuming Attorney General Jeff Sessions will be out by the end of the year, the president is considering as many as five candidates to succeed him: HHS Secretary Alex Azar, DOT general counsel Steven Bradbury, former Attorney General Bill Barr, Deputy Secretary of State John Sullivan and Janice Rogers, a retired appeals court judge from the D.C. Circuit. Though there are no formalized plans to remove him, Sessions is expected to step down after the midterms. “Mr. Sessions isn’t currently planning to leave, but privately has said that he anticipates he may be asked to resign,” The Wall Street Journal’s Michael C. Bender reports. “The attorney general … has told people the request may come on the president’s Twitter feed.”

“This is actually the dumbest thing I’ve been asked to comment on in a while,” DOJ spokeswoman Sarah Flores said. Sessions’ chief of staff, Matthew Whitaker, “has allies in the White House but also detractors,” Bender writes, noting that Whitaker has “expressed skepticism about the special counsel probe and urged limits on its scope, a position likely to raise objections from Democrats and some Republicans.” “Mr. Trump must find a successor who could win Senate confirmation, a job that senators say is harder given the president’s public suggestions that he wants a political ally as attorney general,” he adds. More: https://on.wsj.com/2QOTXxd

REPLACING HALEY -- The president’s aides want the next U.S. ambassador to the United Nations to be a woman, a move that could help Republicans shore up support among female voters before Election Day. With the White House’s top pick, former deputy national security adviser Dina Powell, bowing out, possible successors to Nikki Haley include Nancy Brinker, founder of the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation; former Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.); and Kelly Knight Craft, the U.S. ambassador to Canada. Outside advisers have recommended Kay Bailey Hutchison, the U.S. ambassador to NATO, but it’s unclear whether she’s being considered for the post. Much more: https://politi.co/2OWo6gy

TRANSITIONS -- Jennifer Shapiro has been promoted to chief of staff in Rep. Emanuel Cleaver’s (D-Mo.) office. She previously served as deputy chief of staff.

TODAY IN CONGRESS --The House and Senate are out.

THURSDAY’S TRIVIA WINNER -- Jason Morganti was first to correctly guess that four sitting vice presidents have been elected to the presidency: John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Martin Van Buren and George H.W. Bush.

TODAY’S TRIVIA -- From Jason: How many paintings are hung up in the Capitol building itself? The first person to correctly guess gets a mention in the next edition of Huddle. Send your best guess my way: nmccaskill@politico.com.

** A message from the National Confectioners Association – #AlwaysATreat: We’ve always created transparent, fun, and great-tasting treats. By 2022, Mars Wrigley Confectionery, Nestlé USA, Ferrero, Lindt, Ghirardelli, Russell Stover, and Ferrara Candy Company will work together to make half of their individually wrapped products available in sizes that contain 200 calories or less per pack. And, 90 percent of the best-selling treats made by these companies will have calorie information printed right on the front of the pack. During the same time period, the newly established AlwaysATreat.com will evolve into a digital resource full of easy-to-use information for consumers to better understand the unique role that chocolate and candy can play in a happy, balanced lifestyle. Learn more at AlwaysATreat.com. **